Studying?
by JaredSadalecki
Summary: The weekend before an exam, James Potter realizes that he isn't exactly ready, so he turns to the school's braniac, Lily Evans. Oneshot


A/N: WARNING! Excessive use of the 'enter' key

-x-

The young girl sat on her solitary bed. Being Head Girl, she had a dormitory to herself. The day had come to an end. The week was over. She clambered over the junk on the floor and pulled her door open. She pushed her dark red hair behind her ear and slowly made her way down the stairs.

"Lily! Hey Lily! I need to talk to you!" a male's voice called. Lily spun around to find James Potter, her counterpart Head Boy. His messy black hair hung loosely in front of his eyes, partly covering his glasses. "I need to ask you a question"

"I'm not going to Hogsmeade this weekend James."

"Oh," he said, not seeming to be fazed by this at all, "I was wondering if you would help me study for the Potion's exam Monday?"

Lily blinked, _Should I pinch myself? James Potter wants to study? _"Umm, Sure I guess." Lily agreed. For the past month and a half, she had found herself staring at James, dreaming about him, and he had become a frequent topic of many of her conversations. Only her best mate Alice had caught on. She fancied James Potter. The man she swore to hate for all of eternity.

A grin stretched across his face, "Great. Meet me down here with all your Potions notes tomorrow morning." He turned on his heels and headed up his stairs, to his dormitory. Lily stood there, she found herself staring after him for a while. Hoping he would run back down and take her in his arms. _Not likely. _She trudged up the stairs and climbed into her bed. Pulling the sheets tight around her, she slowly drifted to sleep.

The next morning, Lily awoke to a bird singing outside her window. Groaning, she turned over and invited sleep back in. Moments later, she flipped out of her bed with a gasp. She had promised James she would help him study for the Potion's exam. She scurried to the bathroom. She yanked her hairbrush through her hair, franticly searching for her toothbrush. _I cannot study with James Potter with morning breath!_

After she had fully prepared herself, she gathered her Potions notes and her textbook. She flitted down the steps and ran right into James, who was waiting at the bottom. "James!"

He steadied her before releasing her, "Sorry lov-Lily."

Lily flushed, "It's alright." She passed him and set her notes down on the coffee table in front of the large couch. "Are you coming? Or are you going to continue staring at my door?" She called over her shoulder to him.

"Yeah, I'm coming Evans!" He joked, calling her by her surname. This used to be a constant, but the two had been civil with each other after becoming the Heads of Hogwarts. "Hold your horses."

Lily laughed, "Have you ever even seen a horse?" Being a Muggle-Born witch, she was educated in both wizard and Muggle ways.

"They look similar to thestrals right?" He asked, plopping himself down on the couch next to her. The close proximity made Lily nervous, something that's never happened before. "Well, I guess by what I think thestrals look like. I've never seen them."

"I haven't seen them either; I have to base it off of what Alice tells me they look like. She was with her grandmother when she died in the 3rd year." Lily was secretly thankful she had never seen a thestral; she hoped that she _wouldn't _ever see one. Thestrals appear to the people that have seen someone die. "But I'd guess they would look similar." Lily said as she reached for her notes, as she did, a loud 'rap' was heard on the door

"Lily! Lily! I need to talk to you!" The portrait flung open, revealing a disheveled Alice. "I really need to speak with-" She stopped half sentence as she took in the scene in front of her, Lily and James, in a relative close area, pouring over a Potion's book.

"Lily, you gave her our portrait password?" James looked ashamed of her.

"Well, yeah, didn't you give Sirius and Remus the password?" Lily questioned, ignoring her friend in the door.

"What about Peter? You forgot him. Don't think I would have given him the password?"

"Did you?" Lily asked, skeptical about his smallest friend.

"No. No, I guess I didn't." He smiled arrogantly.

"Lily? I need to talk to you!" Alice screamed her hands in the air.

"Right" Lily said. She placed the book on the coffee table and walked over to her friend. Alice grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the room, the portrait slamming behind her. "What's wrong with you? What's your problem?"

Lily shook her head, "I don't have a problem Alice."

"No." Alice stated firmly, "You don't have a problem; you have a Potter-blem."

"Alice, that doesn't make any sense." Lily rolled her eyes at her pathetic friend. "What do you need Alice?"

"_Oh!_" Alice said, as if she had suddenly been told something very important. "Frank asked me out today. He wants me to go to Hogsmeade with him. What do I tell him?"

Lily laughed out loud, "Did you just leave him standing there to ask me?"

Alice nodded warily, "Yes, was that wrong?"

Lily stifled a laugh behind her hand, "Yes Alice that was wrong. Now go tell him you'll go to Hogsmeade with him." Alice swiftly hugged her friend before darting down the corridor. Lily turned around and whispered, "Lamp post," to the portrait of a soiled wardrobe. It swung open and she passed through, returning to her study session.

"What did your crazy friend need?" James said, not looking up from the textbook in his lap.

"My crazy friend?" Lily remarked, "Your friends are ten times as insane as Alice." She returned to her seat beside him.

"Y'know flower, this couch isn't half as comfortable as the ones in our dormitories." James said in a nonchalant tone.

Lily turned to face him, "Why are you telling me this?" Lily said in her, 'I'm very aware of this' tone. _Maybe he hasn't changed as much as I thought._

"Oh, I thought we'd be more comfortable on one of them." Noting her bewildered expression he said, "Goodness, Lily. Don't look at me like that. Don't you trust me?"

"Y-yeah." She said as she began to gather her notes. She had never been nervous around a guy. _This is definitely not good_.

"So." James said, trying to make conversation as they collected the notes, "Are you seeing anyone right now?"

"No." Lily said curtly, "I just broke things off with Lucas, that 7th year Ravenclaw." She honestly didn't feel like discussing her past relationships with the guy she fancied.

"Really? Why?" James continued to dwell on the subject.

_Give it up Potter!_ "Well, he was kind of pushy. He told me that he only dated me because he wanted people to feel as though 'mudbloods' had a chance."

"He called you that?" He looked livid. "How dare he! You're seven times the wizard he is. It doesn't change anything that you're Muggle-Born."

Lily smiled at him "Thanks James, but it seems that it only doesn't matter to you. Everyone else looks down upon it." _It does mean a lot to me_ "It means a lot to me that you'd risk your Pure-Blood status to be my friend." _Oh how I want more._

"It's just a title." James shrugged, "I don't care about it anyways." He smiled a heartbreaking smile at Lily, "I'm already considered a Blood Traitor."

"Why?!" She was unsure of why. They didn't spend much time together. All his friends were Pure-Bloods.

"Remus" He said like it was an obvious thing, "He's a half-blood. His mom is a Muggle." He continued to gather the few remaining notes around the couch. "Ready?"

Lily smiled falsely, "Sure."

He led the way up to his dorm, as Lily's was a danger zone. The steps seemed to be shorter than the stairs to her dorm. He pushed his door open. His dorm didn't look much different from Lily's, as they were both members of the Gryffindor house. The hangings around his bed were Gold and Burgundy. The drapes were a silky gold also. He tossed the pillows off the couch and plopped down onto it, patting the cushion beside him, beckoning for Lily. She sat down beside him, transfiguring a blank piece of parchment into a small table for them to put their notes on.

"Can you teach me how to do that?" James asked, stunned

"Later, I was under the impression that you needed help with Potions, not Transfiguration." Grabbing her textbook, she leaned back against the armrest of the couch, curling her knees to her chest. She flipped the book open to a random page and attempted to study.

But she couldn't concentrate. James had picked up his own textbook and was pouring over it. His hair fell elegantly into his eyes. His face was so concentrated, so cute.

"Sorry Lil, but I can't study with you staring at me." He said, gazing into her eyes.

"I- I wasn't staring." Lily stammered, blood rushing to her face.

"Yes Lily, you were." He continued to gaze at her, incredulous. "You were staring at me! Lily Evans was staring at me!"

"Fine." Lily admitted, "I was staring at you. Happy?" James nodded, returning his attention to his book

A while later, he spoke again, "Lily, what's Wolfy-Banes Potion?"

Lily giggled, "You mean Wolfsbane Potion?"

He nodded, "Yeah, Wolfsbane." He flushed slightly, "I've never heard of it before, what does it do?"

Lily laughed even harder, "You've never heard of it?" when he shook his head, Lily continued, "It's a potion that allows a werewolf to be in his right mind on the full moon."

James gasped, "Has anyone told Madam Pomfrey about this potion? Or professor Slughorn? I mean c'mon! This could really help Remus!"

She attempted to hide another giggle, "It's still a newer Potion. One of the alumni from Hogwarts invented it just over a month ago; all the kinks are still being worked. And yes, I've told Madam Pomfrey about it and… she said she wasn't uncomfortable using one of her students as a guinea pig for a new potion."

"LILLIAN EVANS!"

James jumped up, "Who's that?"

Lily stood up as well, "Lucas." She would recognize that shout anywhere "I've heard him shout enough that it's too well known" She made her way to the door

"You gave him our password?" James asked, grabbing her wrist before she could exit the room.

She shook her head, "No, Alice, or one of your friends, must have told him." She pulled her arm out of his grip and opened the door. She stomped down the stairs angrily, "What do you want?"

The boy towered several inches over her, but was nothing compared to the one that now lumbered down the stairs. "I waited in the Three Broomsticks for _2_ hours for you."

Lily tapped her foot impatiently, "We are over Lucas; you couldn't have expected me to go to Hogsmeade with you."

"Well. I did. We aren't over until I say we're over. Got it?" He crossed his arms and glared at James, who was now standing close to Lily

"I believe that if Lily says that you're over, you're over; do you have it?" James put his arm around Lily's shoulders.

"So, you've decided that there isn't anyone in the school better than me, you chose worse." Lucas said, nodding towards James.

"Actually," Lily said stepping threateningly close to him, "I don't think I could have done better."

"Stupid Little Mudblood, You don't understand anything do you?" Lucas jeered.

James pushed Lily out of the way, "As long as I am here, you will _not_ call Lily that, do you understand?" He

began to push him out of the common room. Lucas swung around and his fist collided with James' eye.

"How do you like that, Potter?" Lucas stood, waiting for James to strike back, "Are you to afraid? Scared that I'm gonna hurt you?" He mocked in a babyish tone.

James stood his ground, not making any motion to defend himself, "No. I'm not. And I'm not going to hit you. That's below me." He put his arm around Lily's waist, towing her alongside him, "We're leaving."

The two returned upstairs before James clutched at his eye, "Merlin! That guy can hit." He grinned at Lily, "How bad is it?"

Lily grimaced as she examined his eye, "It's black." She gently placed her forefinger on the bruise, before immediately pulling it off, "Ewww. It's throbbing."

He laughed, "You're such a girl." He walked quickly towards the bathroom to examine his eye, "Do you know anything that will get rid of this?"

Lily searched through the array of notes for her wand, finding it, she said, "Yeah, come here." Muttering the simple charm, the bruise on his eye vanished instantly.

"Thanks Lil." He said, examining his eye, once again, in the bathroom mirror, "You really have a knack for that sort of thing."

Lily settled herself on the couch before asking, "What? Magic? Most wizards and witches tend to be good at some sort of it." She rummaged around through the notes on the table; but was unable to find anything that interested her. She didn't want to study. "James, we've been studying all morning, let's take a break."

James eyed her suspiciously, "Well, what do you want to do?"

She shrugged, "Honestly, I don't care. This stuff is getting boring anyways."

"Can I ask you a question?" He sat on the edge of the bed, facing Lily. "Downstairs, you umm- you said something about not doing any better, does, does that mean we're a couple now?"

Lily smiled, "Does it?" She enjoyed allowing him to fight with himself over Lily. It gave her a sense of control, of power. She liked it.

"I-umm I'd like that. I know that I promised you that I'd leave you alone this year, and trust me, I tried, but, in the end, I failed miserably. I'm sorry Lily, this whole thing was a bad-"

"I'd like it too." Lily whispered, interrupting his speech. She removed herself from the couch and plopped down on the bed next to him. "I- I fancy you James."

James grinned largely, taking her face in his hands. He bent down and softly, and pressed his lips to hers.

_James Potter wants to study? Yeah right…_


End file.
